Aromatherapy

Treatment with essential oils can often help relieve the painful muscle spasms that contribute to back pain. Several of these--sage, rosemary, thyme, horsebalm and mountain dittany--are rich in thymol and carvacrol, compounds that help muscles relax.

How To Use: Add a few drops to a couple of tablespoons of any vegetable oil and massage the oil mixture directly into the affected area.
Alternately, you can add a few drops of the oil to a hot bath and soak for a while, inhaling the steamy vapors.

Other compounds with potent muscle-relaxing action that can relieve back spasms are borneol and bornyl-acetate. Plants rich in these chemicals include cardamom, sage and rosemary. Borneol is an effective antispasmodic compound at a very dilute concentration, making it even more potent than menthol, camphor, thymol and
carvacrol.